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EmergingFrontierMarkets.comemerging and frontier markets:the unofficial field guideSite
Owner / Publisher: Sta.
Romana, Leonardo L.
Based in: Manila,
Philippines;
and Southeast Asia
Posted
on Tue, 30 June
2020: Jeffrey Sachs: How inequality fuels Covid-19 deaths, Project Syndicate, 29 June 20 [via Author's site]: The rich now work and thrive online, while the poor are losing their jobs and often their health and lives. And the costs of inequality are sure to rise further, as revenue-starved govts slash budgets and public services vital for the poor. But a reckoning is coming, writes Columbia U Ctr Sustainable Devt dir Univ president's message on the removal of Woodrow Wilson name from the public policy school and Wilson College, Princeton Univ, 27 June 20: Wilson's racism was significant and consequential even by the standards of his own time. He segregated the federal civil service after it had been racially integrated for decades. He not only acquiesced in but added to the persistent practice of racism in this country, a practice that continues to do harm today
"Travel bubble": EU preparing to reopen its borders -- but probably not to Americans, CNN, 30 June 20: The EU is preparing to reopen its external border to 15 countries outside of the bloc. However, the US -- where the coronavirus is currently resurging -- will not be on that list. On the proposed list of 15 nations is China, though only if China will offer entry on the condition of reciprocal arrangements
Posted
on Sat, 20 June
2020: Wirecard CEO resigns after Asian banks say missing $2 billion doesn't exist, WSJ, 19 June 20 [via DJ on marketscreener.com]: The chief exec resigned after two Philippine banks meant to be holding over $2 bil. on behalf of the fintech giant said they don't have the cash and never did. The resignation marks a turning point in the scandal engulfing the Munich-based firm, once one of Europe's rare tech success stories 19 Black economists to celebrate and know, this Juneteenth and beyond, Fortune, 19 June 20: Economics is of great interest to Black people, who too often find themselves on the wrong side of America's divides in wealth and income. To turn the tide against blatant exclusion in their field, today's Black economists have been keen on supporting pipeline efforts through a variety of organizations The difference between a second wave and a second peak of coronavirus, according to WHO, CNN, 20 June 20: There are no specific definitions for classifying a second wave or a second peak of coronavirus, Dr Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Org's Health Emergencies Program, said during a briefing on Fri (19 June). Ryan did explain some differences between both Coffers: Burton Malkiel -- The day-trading pandemic, Wealthfront (blog), 17 June 20: The coronavirus has wrought devastating harm to the health of our nation and to the vibrancy of our economy. With respect to financial markets, it has also given rise to a full-blown mania, writes Princeton U prof emeritus / author of A Random Walk Down Wall Street Taiwan's one-week quarantine rule could be the new normal of business travel, Quartz, 17 June 20: There's been much talk of "travel bubbles" between countries that have effectively stamped out Covid-19, but thus far none have been implemented. Taiwan's new rules for shortened quarantines, however, could give us an idea of what global business might look like in the months to come
Posted
on Wed, 10 June
2020: Supreme Court rules Brazil must share virus data, Deutsche Welle, 09 June 20: Brazil's top court ruled on Tues (09 June) that the country's health ministry must continue reporting all data related to Covid-19 death and infection rates. The rapid ruling came after the ministry deleted large swathes of public info and said it would stop publishing cumulative totals Ethiopia is beating Covid-19 -- with few ventilators and no lockdowns, FT, by D Pilling, 29 May 20 [via Channel News Asia/S'pore]: For whatever reasons, Ethiopia has, thus far, avoided the worst of the coronavirus pandemic. According to official data, the east African country of 110 mil. people, the continent's 2nd most populous, has recorded just over 730 cases of Covid-19 and six Covid-related deaths
New Zealand lifts lockdown as it declares virus eliminated, for now, NYT, 09 June 20 [via abs-cbn.news/Philippines]: New Zealand has no active coronavirus cases and no new cases, officials said Mon (08 June), declaring that life could return to a form of pre-pandemic normal. The country of 5 mil. people is one of only a few nations that appear to have eradicated the virus. Iceland is another Covid-19 lessons from Iceland -- How one Nordic country has all but stopped the virus in its track, GeekWire, 17 May 20: At 1st glance, Iceland's statistics might seem contradictory. The reason for its high case counts and low death rate: widespread and proactive testing. Because of aggressive testing, it's fully aware of the cases, explained Iceland's Director of Health, speaking during the Nordic Innovation Summit in Seattle The man behind Sweden's pandemic response admits too many died, BBC News, 03 June 20: The expert in charge of the country's response to Covid-19 told Swedish public radio: "If we were to encounter the same disease again, knowing exactly what we know about it today, I think we would settle on doing something in between what Sweden did and what the rest of the world has done Nook & cranny: Rewriting history - History turns toward the global, Harvard Magazine, Nov/Dec '14: What happens when well-established national histories are placed in a global context? Suddenly, European industrialists and financiers of the global cotton trade (the commodity that started the Industrial Revolution) come into focus as architects of the slave culture that emerged in the cotton-growing American South
Posted
on Sun, 31 May
2020: Canada PM, allies call for global unity at UN summit on pandemic recovery, CBC News, 29 May 20: PM Trudeau co-hosted with UN Sec-Gen Guterres and Jamaican PM Holness the hours-long video conference. More than 50 heads of state and govt participated in the meeting -- including Germany's Merkel, France's Macron and UK's Johnson. US Pres Trump did not take part Did Japan just beat the virus without lockdowns or mass testing?, Bloomberg, 27 May [via LA Times]: Japan's state of emergency ended Mon (25 May) with new cases of the coronavirus dwindling to mere dozens. It got there despite largely ignoring the default playbook. Yet the curve has been flattened, with deaths well below 1,000 people, by far the fewest among the G7 nations
The coronavirus has upended supply chains. Here's how companies can prepare for the next disruption, Northwestern U Kellogg Sch, 23 Mar 20: There have been shortages in products such as hand sanitizer and masks. Hand sanitizer is simple to produce, allowing other producers, such as perfume manufacturers and distilleries, to step into the breach. Masks present a trickier problem, however, in that they are produced almost exclusively in China
Posted
on Thu, 21 May
2020: Summers: COVID-19 looks like a hinge in history, FT, 14 May 20: The COVID-19 crisis is the third major shock to the global system in the 21st century, following the 2001 terror attacks and the 2008 financial crisis. I suspect it is by far the most significant, writes fmr US Treasury secy / Harvard prof World leaders unite in call for a people's vaccine against COVID-19, UNAIDS / Oxfam, 14 May 20: More than 140 world leaders, experts and elders have made an unprecedented call in an open letter for guarantees that COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics, tests and treatments will be patent-free, mass produced, distributed fairly and made available to all people, in all countries, free of charge Sachs: What Asian nations know about squashing COVID-19, CNN, 03 May 20: Several places in the Asia-Pacific, incl New Zealand, S.Korea and Vietnam, have successfully controlled the pandemic. How is it that one part of the world is succeeding, while the other part refuses to learn the lessons of success?, asks Columbia U Ctr Sustainable Devt dir
Taiwan and Stanford discussing project on safe international travel, China Post/Taiwan, 18 May 20: Taiwan is in talks with Stanford Univ to create a protocol for travelers that would help shorten the amount of time they have to stay in quarantine when they go abroad, Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center confirmed Mon (18 May). The project was proposed by researchers at Stanford
COVID-19 could bring about a 'new deal' for millions of Asia's informal workers, WEForum / IMF (blog), by Rhee and Dabla-Norris, 06 May 20: Informal workers account for nearly 60% of non-farm employment, higher than in other parts of the world, but typically have no access to sick leave or unemployment benefits. The lockdowns have revealed the vulnerability of these workers, write IMF senior economists Posted
on Mon, 11 May
2020: South Korea, Germany show life beyond lockdown isn't what people think it will be, CNN, 10 May 20 [via News18/India]: Two countries have been widely held up as examples of how to handle a pandemic: S. Korea and Germany. So how are they preparing to return to "normal" life? In one word: Cautiously. And those watching enviously from other countries may notice that much remains far from normal
World leaders pledge $8 billion to fight COVID-19 but US steers clear, Reuters, 04 May 20: Organisers included the European Union and non-EU countries Britain, Norway and Saudi Arabia. Leaders from Japan, Canada, South Africa and dozens of other countries joined the virtual event on Mon (4 May), while China was only represented by its ambassador to the EU Why restoring and deepening global trade is vital in response to COVID 19 -- Trade ministers of Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and UK, NZ Herald, 28 Apr 20: We are four independent trading nations who have derived success by operating globally. One in five Australian jobs is trade related. In New Zealand that number is one in four. Nearly two-thirds of Singapore's GDP is generated by external demand. Almost two-thirds of UK's economy is made up of trade
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